Curtain-fixture



(No Model.)

G. vBUCKLEY.

CURTAIN PIXTURB.

Patent-ed lvay 8, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

oHAU'NeEY BUOKLEY, on MERIDEN, ooNNEoTIcU'r.

cuRTAN-F xTuRE.

sPncIr-ICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. "382,509, dated May s,eaa.

Application filed February 14,1887. Serial No. 227,519. (No model.) I

To aZZ whom may concern:

Be it known that I, CHAUNonY BUCKLEY, of Meriden, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut,v have invented a new Improvement inCurtain-Fixtures; 4and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, a longitudinal central section of a roller, showing thespindle and spring; Fig. 2, an end view looking toward the bracket G andillustrating the method of introducing the roller to the bracket; Fig.3, a front View of the bracket and the spindle as entering the recess fFig. 4, an end View of theroller, the cap removed, showing the spindlein transverse section at the shoulder n and in a position for the shadeto be drawn downward; Fig. 5, the same section as Fig. 4, but ininverted position, as for drawing the shade upward.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of window shadeor curtain fixtures in which the roller has combined within it a spring,one end of which is attached to the roller, so as to revolve with it,andthe other end fixed at a stationary point upon the spindle, so that asthe shade is drawn from the roller it will wind the spring; then, whenfree, the reaction of the springwill rewind the shade upon the roller.

In this class of fixtures a spindle is introduced concentrically withinthe tubular portion of the roller, the spindle being held stationarywhile the roller revolves, and a pawl or equivalent device is arrangedin connection with the roller or spindle, so that as the roller ispermitted to revolve rapidly the centrifugal force will preventtheengagement of the pawl so as to arrest the revolution of the roller; butwhen the shade is held against rapid revolution then, the centrifngalforce being thereby reduced, the pawl will be permittedto engage betweenthe spindle and roller, so as to, arrest and hold the roller that theshade may be set at any desired elevation, and also' so that the springmay be wound before the roller is placed in the brackets, the winding ofthe spring being'held by the said pawl, and so that at anytime when itis desired'to take the roller from the brackets the pawl will make thesame engagement, so that as the roller passes from the bracketthe springcannot unwind, as would be the case were there not some preventiveintroduced. Devices for accomplishing these objects are numerous. I

The object of my invention is to simplify the construction and to adaptthe shade to either a pull-down or a pull-up shade-that is, to bearranged above so that the shade will be drawn down to cover the windowor arranged below so as to be drawn up to cover the window.

.A represents the roller, which is usually made of wood, and is boredout from one end to form the spring-chamber. The'diameter of thischamber should be considerably larger than the spring, so as to allowperfect freedom of working of the spring.

B is the spindle, which is arranged concentrically through thespring-chamber.

bearing in one of the brackets. Its inner end must be so connected withthe roller as to permit the roller to revolve freely. In some cases thishas been done by making the diameter of the chamber the size of thespring, and so that the spring fixed to the spindle will form a Thisspindle has an extension outward to take a bearing, as it were, on whichthe roller will revolve. In other cases a block has been introduced intothe spring chamber at the inner end, into which the inner end of thespindle extends, the block being made fast to the roller.

To obviate the necessity of introducing a block to form' the bearing forthe spindle, and at the same time' leave the spring perfectly free inits chamber, I bore into the solid roller Vat the inner end of thespring-chamber a concentric hole, b, corresponding4 in diameter -to theinner end of the spindle B. This hole is I the roller, requiring noadjustment or'attachment.

O represents the helical spring, the inner end of which is secured tothe spindle, as at e.

The other end is fixed to the roller, say as by spindle extends, andwhich is made fast to the.

roller, it being understood that the spindle is held firmly at the outerend. The inner end of the spring is ycorrespondingly held, while theouter end, in connection with the roller, will be permitted to revolve;hence as the roller is turned in one direction the spring will be wound,and then, the roller left free, the reaction of the spring will impartrevolution toitin the opposite direction,a*nd therefore cause the shadeto be wound onto the roll or permit it to be drawn therefrom, as thecase' may be.

The spindle near its outer end is constructed with a transverse notch,d, on one side. Upon the opposite side the spindle is cut away to theextreme outer end to form a recess, e, as seen in Fig. 3. At theopposite end of the roller the usual gudgeon, E, is introduced, adaptedto enter a corresponding seat in the bracket F.

G represents the bracket at the spindle end of the cylinder, constructedso as to be secured to the jamb in the usual manner. The head of thebracket is eonstructed with a horizontal recess, f, which in heightcorresponds to the distance between the recess e on one side and thenotch d on the opposite side of the spindle, as seen in Fig. 3. Theupper part of the head of the braeket-that is, the part h above thespindle--in thickness corresponds to the width of the notch d, as seenin Fig. 3, while the other part, i, below is thicker and so as to extendoutward upon Vthe recess in the opposite side, as also seen in Fig. 3.

The recess in the head of the bracket ex- 'tends inward, and then turnsdownward to form a seat, l, for the spindle, the thickness of the upperpart, h, continuing the same around to theback side of the seat l, whilethe front iV also retains the same thickness--that is, greater than thatof the side h. Because of this difference in thicknesses of the upperand lower parts of the head, it will be observed that the spindle canonly pass into the bracket with the notched side toward the thinnerpart, h, of the head, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. Thus introduced, thespindle will pass inward, then by a partial rotation turn into the seatZ, and there be held so as to prevent rotation, so that the spindle canonly be introduced one-side up.

On the head D, which is fixed to the roller and wlich is free to revolveon the spindle, one or more pawls, m, are hung so as to swing in a planeat right angles to the axis. On one side of the spindle, in the plane ofthe pawls, a shoulder, a, is formed, with which the pawls are adapted toengage when permitted to fall therein. This notch is on the upper sideof the spindle when the roller is to be used at the top of the window,or so that the shade may be drawn down from it, and in this case is onthe same side of the spindle as the notch d. Under rapid revolution ofthe roller the pawls will be thrown ontward by centrifugal force, asrepresented by the lower pawl in Fig. 4. When the shade is drawn down,the pawls successively pass the shoulder n; but when the pulling down ofthe shade ceases the pawls are adapted to engage the shoulder n on thereturn ofthe roller under the reaction of the spring, and so that iftherevolution of the shade be slow the first pawl will engage thatshoulder, as seen in Fig. 4; but if the roller be permitted to revolverapidlyin winding the shade then the pawls will escape the shoulder bycentrifugal force and not interfere with the winding revolution of theroller, and as usual in this class of fixtu res, and so that the shademay be adjusted to any desired elevation.

The arrangement which I have described is for the position of the rollerat the top of the window. i

In many cases it is desirable that the roller be placed at the bottom ofthe window, and so that the shade may be drawn upward in covering thewindow, as seen in Fig. 5. In a shade thus arranged there is no occasionfor engaging the spindle and the roller so as to prevent rotation of theroller, for the reason that the shade must be supported by somemechanism above or it would fall ofits own gravity. It therefore becomesnecessary to prevent the engagement of the pawls with the roller. To dothis the spindle -is inverted, as seen in Fig. 5, bringing the shouldern below, and so that the pawls cannot engage with that shoulder, for;the reason that they fall away from it'of their own gravity when beneaththe spindle. In inverting the spindle the bracket G is also necessarilyinverted, so that the same bracket and all the parts are adapted forposition either at the top4 of a window or below, and so that the shademay be either drawn downward or upward from the roll, as the case maybe. I have said the bracket must necessarily be inverted, and such isthe fact, as the roller is necessarily inverted in order that the shademay be drawn up instead of down. `The spindle cannot enter the bracketuntil the bracket is correspondingly inverted, so that there is noliability of mistake in arranging the roller and bracket, and the samefixture is without any change or manipulation in its mechanism adaptedeither to be placed above or below, as the case may be.

If the spindle be made of iron, it adds very considerable weight to theroller, which it is desirableto dispense with. To this end I make thebody of the spindle of wood and introduce into this an extension, B', asseen in'Fig. 1. This extension is of metal, and in its end the notch dis formedl upon one side and the recess e upon the opposite side. Thisextension is constructed with a shank, r, adapted to be set into the endof the wood spindle, as shown; but the wood spindle without someprotection would not be sufficiently strong to sustain the extension. Tostrengthen the spindle, as well as to form a metal bearing on thespindle, I apply at its outerI end a metal ferrule, s, which too side.of the head D, to prevent movement'of the spindle in an axialdirection, and this protection of the spindle prevents any liability ofsplitting or loosening of the extension and serves every purpose of ametal spindle without its weight and at no increased expense.y The headD is inclosed bya cap, w, in the usual manner for this class offixtures.

The arrangement of the spindle in a bearing in the roller, forming anintegral part of the roller, may be used whether or not there be a stopor check between the roller and spindle,`

and in place of the pawl Which I have illus-4 trated many of thewell-known checks may be introduced between the spindle and roller, so

as to automatically make the engagement be- I tween the roller andspindle which I have described, such checks being too well known to`require illustration or description.

The wood spindle, with its ferrule, may be employed to advantage inother sprin'g-rollers of this class.

of the recess in It is immaterial which side the bracket is made thinand which thick; but i the end of the roller, a spring in said chamber,

one end fixed to said spindle and the other to the roller, the spindleconstructed with a shoulder, n, ony one side, and the roller provdedwith a corresponding stop adapted to engage or pass said shoulder, asthe case may be, the outer en'd of said spindle constructed with anotch, d, upon one side, and with a recess, e, in the opposite sidelonger than 'the width ot the notch on the other side, with a bracketadapted for attachment to the window-jamb, and constructed with ahorizontal recess,jf, and with a vertical recess opening from saidhorizontal recess and. forming the seat Z, the thickness of the bracketon oneside of said horizontal and vertical recesses corresponding to thewidth of the notch in the spindle,'and the other side of said horizontaland vertical recesses broader than said notch, all substan- 6oVWitnesses:

OHAs. W. KING;- RALPH A. PALMER.

